


A Bard's Symphony

by BuildGlines



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi | Fire Emblem: Binding Blade, Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken | Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Gen, Manaketes (Fire Emblem), Novelization
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 06:26:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29380611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BuildGlines/pseuds/BuildGlines
Summary: After several decades, I have managed to return to my homeland. It has changed immensely, especially in the shadow of a previous war I was absent for. This war and the survivors brought new hope, and new travesties.I am Nils, the Bard of Elibe. This is my story, my song.
Kudos: 1





	1. Return

**Author's Note:**

> Content Warnings for this chapter:  
> Spoilers for FE7/Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword
> 
> If any major content warnings exist in a chapter, they will be listed here. Keep an eye on this, I don't want to alienate you with my work!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Warnings for this Chapter:  
> Spoilers for FE7/Fire Emblem: Blazing Blade

How far back do I remember?

Only certain spots.

I remember when the Scouring broke out and my sister and I were forced to go through an otherworldly gate to escape it. I remember when we were coaxed back through the same gate, which was known as the Dragon’s Gate. I remember when my sister and I masqueraded as traveling performers, drawing from our natural talents. I remember when we triumphed over the Dark Mage Nergal, which I later learned was the same father who sent us through the gate to save us from that dreadful day.

After that… I don’t remember much. I remember staying in the world beyond the gate, serving as a sentinel on my own accord. I wasn’t about to let intruders coax other juveniles like my sister and I through the gate, even if the last person who did that lost their mind trying to retrieve his children.

And still… I wanted to go back.

I wanted to go back home. Back to the place known as Elibe. Despite the hardships my sister and I faced, we saw many new places. While we never returned to our homeland, I learned how beautiful the land was, centuries later after that fateful day.

There was one problem.

The Gate. The entire reason I was here in the first place.

After everything that had happened, we, being me and my sister, needed to go back. At least, that’s what I told myself. The gate had kept us safe through our adolescence and I thought it would continue to do so forever. I tried to tell my sister that it wasn’t safe for her here. I was worried that she would be killed for being who she truly was, and this time, there was no coming back from the dead. But despite my protests, my beloved sister said she was going to stay. Whatever reasons she had, I couldn’t talk her out of it no matter how hard I tried.

Yet, what she said to me, I’ll never forget.

“There will always be a place for you and me. Even if its not today, or tomorrow, or even in a decade. There will be a place where you and I can be together. Remember that.”

That was the last thing she said to me before I walked through the aether of the gate. Closing it took whatever power I had left, opening it again would take even more. At first I never thought a feat possible, so I just sat and waited. Waited for an opportunity that would never come.

One day I decided to try and open the gate. While I was able to, I was too exhausted to close it again until I had recovered my strength. As I stared at the green colored marble I realized something. While I wasn’t strong enough, I had recovered quicker.

I could open and close the gate myself.

I could already do this, but not without risking my own life. Eventually I would be able to open and close it safely. Days turned into weeks, which turned into months, even going as far to push myself over the limit just for the motivation of seeing the new Elibe I had left my friends in. It had been years since that day, but I had made amazing progress.

Today was the day, I thought. I felt strong enough when I opened the gate, and didn’t faint when I closed it! I could go through and see everyone…

But… would they all still be there? I had been lost in time, who knows what the land would look like? Would they remember me? Would they even live? Would any of Elibe exist?

I shook my head. I was not about to let my cynical self stop me from something I had worked years toward. I took a deep breath and walked through. For a moment, I saw the other side. It was untouched, like nothing had ever changed. I turned around, taking a deep breath. With an effort of strength, I willed the gate to close, and it did so to my command. The familiar engravings on the door reappeared as the gate was sealed once more. Smiling, turned heel and I took one step-

and fainted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the first chapter of my Nils centric novel. If you know my content, you probably know what's coming.
> 
> If you don't, you're in for a /rough/ time.


	2. Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Every journey begins somewhere. Mine started where my life changed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Warnings for this Chapter:  
> Major Spoilers for FE7/Fire Emblem: Blazing Blade

When I awoke, everything seemed the same. I hoped that would be the last time I’d pass out randomly, for I was much older and stronger than I was when my sister and I separated. Taking a moment, I scanned my surroundings. The familiar green marble surrounded me, with its various carvings and pillars. This served as my home, and my and prison. The place, no matter how much I visited it, had a sort of solemn atmosphere to it. Lots of people died here, Elbert, Ephidel, Athos, my father, and the nameless Dragons who heeded my father’s call of desperation.

I took a deep breath, walking outside the Gate's interior. When was the last time I had breathed the air of this land? It felt so nice. Patting myself off I sighed. Even now I felt stupid for my excuse of the air being bad. It was a ruse to get my sister to come with, but it was clear she wasn’t going to be swayed. Even still, this would not be the only time memories like these would return, as I still had the Isle of Valor to transverse. While I knew the ghastly place known to some as the Dread Isle like the back of my hand, I still watched my every step. I didn't know what was out there.

My thoughts turned to the Morphs I faced. The inhuman Morphs that my father created had probably all but been eradicated, for all of them were used as fodder to slow the advance of his retribution. Yet still, if the magic my father used truly came from Arcadia, my gut told me they would still have a chance to exist. I shuddered at the very thought as I turned behind me to a branch snapping. It was just a bunny. Hang on, I didn’t remember any kind of species living here. Thinking closer, my father had probably destroyed the ecosystem with his insane collection of quintessence.

Quintessence... As far as I knew, were the building blocks of life. My father had figured out how to manipulate this essence, mending himself and creating his Morph lackeys. The only problem was quintessence was not finite. It required the life force of other beings if one wanted to obtain more. That is what my father had thought his goal was. He had been doing pretty well, having created an army out of other’s lives, and making him near-immortal. Immortal enough that the Divine Weapons from the Scouring had trouble hurting him. Yet he lacked an end goal, or at least, he had forgotten his original end goal.

All he truly wanted to do was save my sister and I from being banished though the Gate. But he had gone mad obtaining this power, and forgotten everything else as a result.

I put a hand to my chest, now looking outward to the sea of Elibe. If my sense of direction was correct, north of this sea laid the port of Badon, in the country known as Lycia. Chuckling to myself I remembered the pirates that had brought me back from this dreadful, but now recovering, isle. I could only wonder the infamy that crew gained from being one of the only few to survive the tale of the Dread Isle. Even still, I doubt anybody else had tried since then.

So now I stood here, returning to the same problem I had struggled with eons ago. A sea stood between me and my homeland. I could swim, but this human body was nothing compared to my true Dragon self. I could swim for miles as one, but my own Dragonstone had been lost, all those years ago.

Then I remembered how I originally escaped.

Elbert.

Despite being malnourished and imprisoned for standing up to my father, he was still able to build a small raft in secret. It was only big enough to hold two children, so he sent my sister an I on the path to freedom. Sadly, we only got so far before a storm threw me overboard. Shuddering, I remembered very real feeling of being swallowed by the ocean. I don’t know how I survived, as I heard humans frequently drowned when they were thrown overboard, especially in the conditions my sister and I ran into. I remember reawakening on the beach of Valor, my survival instincts activating. I didn’t know why I was so panicked, but at that very moment, I felt strongly that I needed to find my sister at the Dragon’s Gate.

When I got there- I can’t even begin to describe. Nergal had taken Elbert’s quintessence by using my sister as a puppet, and was about to open the gate. My timely intervention probably prevented a cataclysm, along with saving my sister from my father’s control. It was a great achievement, especially with Elbert critically wounding my father with the last of his strength.

Elbert… that man was one of the first people who showed me how compassionate and noble humans could be. The very first one was Lyndis, a nomadic girl from Sacae who was on the path to reclaiming her noble birthright. She… She saved my life, and then some. It didn’t matter who I was to her or who was chasing me. Her heart told her to keep me, and in turn, my sister, safe. The next one was Eliwood, Elbert’s son. He was the leader of the campaign, originally looking for his late father, until he discovered the dark strings that were controlling the Black Fang. He showed me how it was to be honest, honorable, and dependable. Hector was those things as well, but he seemed to be more passionate about his position. Even as he hoisted me up on his shoulders on the fringe of the Nabata desert, it was clear he was a deeply caring man, one who cared for his vassals and friends.

I sat down as I remembered the ones I had traveled with, and saw the darkening sky. I was so busy reminiscing that I didn’t notice what time it roughly was. I could start making the raft today, and make myself a temporary camp- or at least I thought. I saw a shadow over the ocean. A ship? I thought ships didn’t come here anymore. Were they Lycian? Pirates? A ship full of Morphs?

No matter what it was, I wasn’t about to find out. I quickly looked around for a place to hide, a pile of stones being my place of concealment. I watched from the shadows as I saw the shadow move closer, and indeed, it did form into a ship. The sails lowered before I had a chance to view them and I soon saw a small rowboat make its way to the shore. I could see them easily, as one of the sailors held a lantern. They didn’t look like Morphs, yellow glowing eyes would have given them away. They didn’t seem like pirates either. As the rowboat run upon the shore, I noticed something about the lantern holder.

They had scales dotted on their face.

**Author's Note:**

> Whoops! All spoilers!


End file.
